Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Seems to me that in the period from 1987 to 1993 things at Rickenbacker got unusually creative.

All of the Limited Editions came out then. The whole 650-series came out then. The 381 V69 came out then, reviving the 381-series. The Hi-Gain pickups moved to molded bobbins.

A couple of years later, 1995, the 380 Laguna came out, and the switch to the plastic hard cases.

What happened then to provoke the burst of creativity?

Perhaps John was finally hitting his stride after his buying the company from his dad.

There is a good quote from John Hall where he mentions taking over the company in 1984, during a particularly stagnant period, with lots of energy and ideas. The V series immediately debuted, followed by the period you just described.

There was certainly a lot of buzz created with the C series early in the last decade, but "creatively" speaking, now may be another period of stagnation.

Though, let's reserve judgment until after NAMM.

sloop_john_b wrote:... but "creatively" speaking, now may be another period of stagnation. ...

Well, production-wise, and only because RIC is still trying to catch up on the production backlog. I can't speak for the factory, but I think it's safe to say that there are new ideas, based on the one-offs that RIC has produced in the last few years, and that any full-production new ideas will have to be on the back burner until the backlog is reduced to an acceptable level.

sloop_john_b wrote:There was certainly a lot of buzz created with the C series early in the last decade, but "creatively" speaking, now may be another period of stagnation.

Though, let's reserve judgment until after NAMM.

There's a huge difference between just not having any good ideas, as opposed to choosing not to release good ideas that you have. The first is a creativity problem, while the second is a business decision. In our case, there's a tremendous amount of creativity being expended on production, in terms of efficiency, infrastructure, and both product and people upgrades, as well as building a solid foundation for things yet to come.

On that basis, there's nothing at NAMM that's going to change your mind. We don't follow the traditional American model year "All New" tradition.

LenMinNJ wrote:Seems to me that in the period from 1987 to 1993 things at Rickenbacker got unusually creative.
...
What happened then to provoke the burst of creativity?

In light of John's comments, the creativity has been there all along, and continues to be there, focused on different parts of the company.

So maybe the original question should have been: "What happened back then to provoke the release of so many new products?"

Quite simple really. New, young, fresh blood injected into an old, stodgy, tired organization. Note that I didn't say complacent- just a case of old dogs running out of new tricks.

So, and who was that young blood then?




just kidding.
I love what RIC did in that period.
I think it's a shame a lot of that is already gone, but since RIC has business enough for the moment apparently it's understandable

Streamlining production whilst actually improving quality is creative, I don't know of any other company that has managed it (with perhaps the exception of Sturmey Archer)

Eden.

I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, the changes have been mostly production based in the last ten years, haven't they?

Slot through headstock
adjustable pole piece hi gains
horseshoes available
full width inlays
push pull tone pot

jdogric12 wrote:I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, the changes have been mostly production based in the last ten years, haven't they?

Slot through headstock
adjustable pole piece hi gains
horseshoes available
full width inlays
push pull tone pot

Let's not forget the most important one: return to a nice, non-boat-oar-sized headstock profile again.

Youll regret that next time your boat sinks and youre floating aimlessly in a liferaft!

got an 89 rick it's killer